Secrets of the Happiest Commuters

Take Control of the Details; Women Travel Differently

What makes for a perfect commute? Researchers are finding it's as much about what you do while traveling as it is how long you travel. Sue Shellenbarger and transportation consultant Alan Pisarski join Lunch Break with details. Photo: Getty.

Amid the millions of commuters crowding trains and clogging highways each workday is a rare creature: the contented commuter.

How to create the perfect commute? Track down a few happy travelers, and they'll tell you it's not just about length. People can enjoy commutes as long as 45 minutes, studies show—and men are less frustrated by long commutes than women. But a happy commute is predictable. It is productive—often enlivened by mobile devices and satellite radio. And it offers clear rewards for the hassle. A person who commutes an hour each way has to make 40% more money to be as satisfied with life as a person who lives near the office, according to research co-authored by Alois Stutzer, an economics professor at the University of Basel in Switzerland.

Mike Venerable plans his 30- to 45-minute car commute from Mason, Ohio, to his job in Cincinnati to gain efficiency and control. If he doesn't have an early meeting at work, he avoids traffic by waiting to hit the road and starts his workday at Starbucks over a grande half-caf with cream. He heeds traffic reports and varies his route to avoid congestion—taking back streets if necessary. Mr. Venerable, a managing director of CincyTech, a Cincinnati investment group, uses his hands-free phone to stream country music and "make a ton of calls," scheduling talks with West Coast clients for the drive home.

He sometimes keeps talking after he pulls into his driveway, even when his three children, ages 11 through 13, peer through the car window. "The ultimate commuter—a person who really likes the amenities of commuting—is somebody like me, who will pull into the driveway and have a conversation going on for 20 minutes without getting out of the car," Mr. Venerable says.

Some of his friends think his commute is long—and it is by the standards of Cincinnati, where commutes average about 24 minutes. But Mr. Venerable, 51, purposely chose the calm suburb of Mason, which has made Money magazine's best-small-towns list, when he quit his job in northern Virginia several years ago. Congestion in Cincinnati is predictable. His drive takes half as long as the hour to 1 1/2 hours it took back in Virginia, where "you can hit a traffic jam at 11 a.m. or 2 p.m. or 8 p.m.," he says.

A growing number of Americans have very long commutes, new national data show. While the average commute has remained unchanged at 25.5 minutes in recent years, those traveling more than an hour each way rose to 11.1 million in 2012, up 300,000 from 2011, says Alan Pisarski, a Falls Church, Va., transportation consultant and author of a series of national commuting studies.

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More women are making long commutes than in the past, and a growing percentage drive alone rather than car-pooling or taking mass transit, Mr. Pisarski says. Women tend to be unhappier about long commutes than men, even after controlling for any improvement in income, job satisfaction or housing quality—perhaps because women tend to shoulder more housework at home, says a 2011 study in the Journal of Health Economics.

While a growing number of people bike to work, it is small. More than 75% of commuters travel alone by car, Census data show. Driving is usually faster than mass transit. But it can add stress. In big cities, car commuters waste 52 hours a year stuck in traffic, according to the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, College Station, Texas. Mr. Pisarski adds, "A commuter who says, 'This trip should take 20 minutes and it's taking 30' can get very frustrated." The desire for predictability drives many commuters to switch to mass transit, says a 2011 study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania.

Holland Sullivan of Bronxville, N.Y., a close-in suburb of New York City, has what he considers the perfect commute. When he and his wife moved from the city last year, Mr. Sullivan swapped a subway ride for a 27-minute train ride, followed by a 10- to 15-minute subway trip, to his job in the city as a managing director at Griffin Securities, an investment-banking firm. But he's happy with the trade-off, having gained 2,000 additional square feet of space in their home, two more bedrooms and a yard, he says.

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Holland Sullivan of Bronxville, N.Y., makes the most of his train time.
Michael Falco

Mr. Sullivan, 35, downloads several newspapers and magazines onto his smartphone each night to get all his reading done on the train. He gets exercise walking to the station—0.91 mile, according to his Nike app. He boards the first car, in order to be among the first in line for the subway when he gets off, then stakes out a position on the platform to get closer to a subway-car door. When he carries an umbrella, he makes sure it can hang on his briefcase, so he can keep one hand free for reading while strap-hanging.

Nicole Engelbert, 41, could save time most days by driving from Bronxville to her job in Manhattan as a research-team leader at Ovum, a technology-research company. But she opts for a one-hour commute by train and subway instead.

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Nicole Engelbert drops off her 2-year-old, Nicholas, at preschool on the way to the train station.
Daniel Hong

She walks to and from the station every day, taking her 2-year-old son to preschool in the morning and doing errands in the evening. She avoids chatting with other passengers, using the ride as "an in-between space" to read or think. Sketching on a note pad during a recent ride, she came up with a new idea for analyzing technology markets. "Driving could take half as much time, but I could be cursing at the driver in front of me and not getting a chance to read my book or relax," she says.

Predictability is worth a lot to Bobby Brancazio when he commutes—$174 a month, to be exact. Mr. Brancazio became so frustrated by long lines and delays on his bus commute from Hoboken, N.J., to New York City that he switched a year ago to the ferry. The cost is $272 a month, compared with $98 for the bus, says Mr. Brancazio, 29, a civil engineer. But his new route takes 30 to 45 minutes, compared with 1 1/2 to 2 hours on the bus. He loves standing on the ferry's top deck, taking photos of the skyline. "It's like an eight-minute vacation every day, a mini-cruise in the middle of the concrete jungle," he says.

There are signs that more people are enjoying their commute. "I'm amazed at how often people say the commute is pleasurable," Mr. Pisarski says. Many regard it as "a positive bridge" between work and home, he says. For others, cellphones and social media ease the frustrations of the past, such as feeling cut off or surprised by traffic jams.

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Janice Berlik drives from Eagle, Colo., to her job in Vail. In her car: a blanket, boots, jumper cables and flares.
Charles Berlik

A six-year study of 27,556 British rail passengers, published earlier this year, found 37% fewer commuters felt their travel time was wasted in 2010, compared with 2004. One reason, researchers hypothesized, was a doubling of passengers listening to music, radio or podcasts on mobile devices in the six-year period and an 83% rise in commuters browsing the Internet or checking email during the ride.

Janice Berlik, a 34-year-old ski-apparel buyer, drives 35 minutes from her home in Eagle, Colo., to her job in Vail. Traveling rugged terrain, she packs water, a blanket, boots, jumper cables and flares. But she looks forward to the journey, she says, because she can tune in to the Howard Stern show on Sirius satellite radio. Listening to interviews and music, she says, "gets me through the morning drive."

I too live in Mason, OH but go the opposite direction towards Dayton. My commute is approximately 35 minutes door-to-door. I set the cruise to 70 and listen to old time radio shows. I've downloaded about 1,000 from rusc.com and play them through my iPod. Fairly stress free ride.

These are "first world problems" In my town there are dozens, even hundreds of poor people from Bridgeport and New Haven who work at motels and nursing homes for 9 bucks an hour. God bless them and I look at my little tribulations as nothing compared to theirs

"Janice Berlik, a 34-year-old ski-apparel buyer, drives 35 minutes from her home in Eagle, Colo., to her job in Vail. Traveling rugged terrain, she packs water, a blanket, boots, jumper cables and flares."

Point of order here. The drive from Eagle to Vail is anything but "over rugged terrain." It's on I-70, a four lane freeway that, even in the winter time, is so well-maintained and the snow so dry that you can drive it most days in a rear-wheel drive passenger car with highway tires.

No happy commuters in the D.C. suburbs. I've tried everything but the most logical choice: live close to work. That's not really feasible, because of the run-up in prices inside the beltway over the past twenty years. I suppose I could live in a neighborhood with condoms and syringes on the ground, but I'm not really interested in that. I could also squeeze into a 400 sq. ft. condo for 800K, but I'm not interested in that either, so I'll gripe about the MARC (our local commuter rail service), the unreliable Metro, and I-270 and the unpredictable commute in order to have a single-family home in a nice neighborhood. This morning: about 2:20 in the rain.

My wife works from home and has no intention of moving into the District.

I have a 27 mile one-way drive to the office in the morning. I leave the house at 5:40 before the traffic kicks in, and it takes me 35-40 minutes. I travel on one of the numerous toll roads in Houston in order to speed my commute. I bring a couple of cups of coffee I brew at home (better than SBUX), and my car provides a sweet ride. I listen to 3-4 satellite radio stations and particularly enjoy the RadioClassics station if there's a Shadow, or Dragnet, or Johnny Dollar show playing. Otherwise it's classical music or the blues. I leave the office at 3:30, but the traffic going home is a bit heavier so it takes an additional 5 minutes.

However, I work from the house about once every other week, and that's pretty nice too!

I wish I could create a happy moment in daily commute but commuting in Los Angeles unfortunately is a different story, I suppose, in dealing with many selfish and unsafe drivers. You see every day hit and run news, car accidents, police giving tickets unlike any other US cities.

I have an average 30 minute drive for my commute and audio books have changed the entire nature of the experience. I subscribe to Audible and generally go through at least one book a month. I've also started using the Waze app to base my route on traffic conditions automatically. I still get stuck in traffic from time to time, but knowing that there isn't a better alternative route relives some anxiety.

Mr. Venerable drew a bead on the right attitude from the get-go when he researched what his commute options would be before he chose where to live. Don't limit yourself to one route - freeway or otherwise - but have at least two alternates. I've got a choice of 2 freeways, one major boulevard, and several side-street options. Together, my 14 mile commute usually takes 25-30 minutes, even if I'm on city streets. Use the tools that are out there - local media traffic and gas price sites (gasbuddy.com is best) - to make your commute as fast and cost-efficient as possible, and it'll be a much more enjoyable one, even with that jerk in the monster truck behind you with his brights glaring in your mirrors while he fiddles with a hand-held device not part of his anatomy for part of the ride.

Great title, disappointing article...was expecting more than Sue's BFFs commentary and rundown of daily commute techniques. i.e. a bit of researcher on real suggestions for the best podcasts, traffic apps or something deeper - this belongs on a blog, not a WSJ article

"The ultimate commuter—a person who really likes the amenities of commuting—is somebody like me, who will pull into the driveway and have a conversation going on for 20 minutes without getting out of the car,"

Wow, I really feel sorry for that guy. The ultimate commuter is someone who enjoys his drive and never uses his phone while he's doing it.

With a 90 mile round trip by car each day, my commute is longer than I'd like it to be, but I don't mind too much because there's never much traffic (it's a "reverse commute" - from home in Mass to work in NH, opposite the norm) and most days, I make productive use of the time with a handheld voice recorder. By the time I reach my destination, I've made a comprehensive to-do list, or solved a problem, or made note of the chore I keep forgetting to do, or whatever.

The perfect commute is a 1-2 mile walk. I get in my exercise, thinking, relaxing, maybe nature and my head straight. Driving is such a waste of time and resources and very frustrating. Name me one good thing about driving?

I think there is a happy zone of 20-40 minutes. Shorter than that and you don't get a chance to read or listen to your talk radio programs. Longer than that and you start counting how many hours you are wasting a week.

I got creamed at an intersection in an urban area in Houston a couple of week ago, on a Saturday, not during my commute, by someone running a red light (no injuries in either car). I'm discussing options for my car on an internet forum with other people who own the type of car I do. The people that reply from California are saying exactly the same thing you do.

I am a Millennial and have a 45+ minute commute each way, every day. No parental chauffeur or fancy Wi-Fi bus, just waiting in line on the freeways like everyone else. I've never heard of any of my friends having the former available to them.

I would actually enjoy my drive to and from work, if only there weren't all of these other people in the way...

Or their employers provide them with luxurious buses with WiFi and refreshments so they needn't mingle with the hoi polloi on their way to their suburban IT jobs from their purposely sketchy city digs.

I love driving. As Brian pointed out, my driving top-down through the countryside on a sunny day is one of the more enjoyable things I do. And I never have the radio on. Just listening to the car and the country as I whip through the twisties.

Truthfully, I feel sorry for people like you who have no idea what a car can do.

I agree. When the weather is bad, mas transit is LESS reliable. I stopped taking the bus after I spent 2+ hours waiting for a bus on a icy cold night. Left work at 5:30 and got home at 9PM (less than 7 miles).

I too exchanged my driving commute for one that takes me across the house.

Prior to shortening it I drove 50 miles each way which was worth it to get away from the urban sprawl of South Florida. I enjoyed my commute as time to decompress from work and get in the right frame of mind for family time. The fact that I'm a car guy helped because I enjoy being in the car and driving.

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